ActionAid believes that agroecology-based Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture (CRSA) is an effective way to respond to both the climate and food crisis. CRSA proposes to overcome the gaps of contemporary mitigation and adaptation programmes in agriculture by bringing to the fore the actual priorities, needs, and knowledge of farming communities themselves. CRSA prioritises the right to food, environmental conservation, and long-term community resilience in order to reduce food insecurity at the local level, and contribute to effective national and international climate change policies that support self-sufficiency and sustainability in agricultural systems worldwide.

However, rich countries and multilateral agencies are turning a blind eye to the potential of agroecology as a long-term strategy to tackling climate change. Instead, they are promoting “false solutions”– in the form of biofuels, carbon markets, and soil carbon sequestration which comes packaged with “Climate-Smart Agriculture” – to shift their responsibility and mitigation burden onto poor countries and communities.

In short, this document illustrates the relationship between climate change and agriculture; review and demonstrate how current climate change policy responses fall short of addressing the realities of poor rural farmers who are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change; and paint an alternative way forward by defining CRSA and suggesting recommendations to national governments.